A CONSERVATIVE MASSACHUSETTS political action committee has sent out a fundraising request attacking Sen. Elizabeth Warren that includes an appeal to donors from former US senator Scott Brown, whose nomination as ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa has been backed by Warren, his one-time foe.
The fundraising packet mailed out at the end of April from Jobs First PAC to potential donors was enclosed in an envelope that read “An important message from SENATOR SCOTT BROWN.” The letter from Brown, now a New Hampshire resident, appeals for donations from $30 to $1,000 to “help grow the Republican Party.”
“Now is the time to say no to the same old liberal status quo on Beacon Hill,” writes Brown. “Today, with your support, we begin to take this state back from the anti-freedom, anti-business liberals who have run Beacon Hill for far too long.”
Brown, a former state representative and state senator from Wrentham, signed the letter “Scott P. Brown, Sen. MA (ret).” He was defeated by Warren in a reelection bid in 2012.
A letter accompanying Brown’s missive, written by Andrew Goodrich, the PAC’s chairman and treasurer, cites Warren as “proof positive of what happens when a liberal gains power.”
“Reading the personal note that he has enclosed with my letter, you will see that Scott Brown agrees with you and me that when liberals are in office, they can’t be trusted with power, and when they are running for reelection… they can’t be trusted to tell the truth.” The last line following the ellipse is underlined and written in bold.
Goodrich said Brown agreed to write the letter for the fundraising appeal prior to being nominated by President Trump last month to be ambassador and before Warren and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire announced their support for his nomination.
“We certainly had his approval to do so,” Goodrich, who works for the political consulting firm Gray Media, said about the solicitation. “Everything had already been in the works since then. The die had already been cast [at the time of the nomination]. He approved the letter his name was on and we had discussed supporting candidates here in Massachusetts.”
Brown, a contributor to Fox News, did not return a call for comment and Warren and Shaheen did not respond to a request for comment.
Jobs First Independent Expenditure PAC was started in 2014 and has raised nearly $478,000, according to its latest report. More than three-quarters of that came through donations by Christopher Egan, a Westborough businessman and staunch conservative Republican who served as ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development under President George W. Bush. The PAC has spent more than $328,000 in support of GOP candidates or opposing Democratic candidates on Beacon Hill, according to data at the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
There are restrictions on partisan politics by State Department employees, including ambassadors, but there are no binds on nominees who do not work for the federal government.
“Ambassadors, like all federal employees, are subject to the Hatch Act’s restrictions on partisan political activity,” a State Department official said in response to an inquiry. “In addition, in light of the nonpartisan nature of foreign affairs, department policy further restricts ambassadors from engaging in partisan political activity while outside of the United States or in concert with campaigns, political parties, or partisan political groups…Nominees for ambassadorial positions are only subject to the Hatch Act if they are currently federal employees, and are only subject to the department’s political activities policy if they are currently employees of the department.”
Goodrich, while initially expressing dismay about the timing of the letter and Brown’s nomination, said he, not Brown, was responsible for the attack on Warren.
“I don’t believe he was aware of all the content,” said Goodrich. “Those are my words, those are not Scott Brown’s.”
He later downplayed any potential controversy, saying he didn’t understand why “supporting local candidates is something out of the norm.”
“It’s not even a federal PAC, it’s a state PAC,” he said.
Meet the Author
Senior Investigative Reporter, CommonWealth
About Jack Sullivan
Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.
He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.
Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.
At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.
About Jack Sullivan
Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.
He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.
Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.
At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.
But when asked why he only specifically attacked Warren, who has never held state office, he said it was because of her standing in the state Democratic Party.
“All those state lawmakers take their marching orders from her,” he insisted. “She’s the leader of the [state] Democratic Party.”
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